It’s that time of year folks where we compile our Top 100 People in Social Media in Austin to show over and over again that the best talent in the world is here in Austin which is why we are the Live Social Media Capital of the World!!!

This year so that we don’t miss anyone, we’re opening the list up and taking nominations- this can be you or an individual that you look up to for their use of social media. This is not a list of people who are necessarily social media practitioners (although a category will be devoted to that), but to people that use social media as part of their business in innovative ways.

Please take a moment to nominate anyone in Austin that deserves to be on the list. It’s completely anonymous, we can’t even see your IP address with this form, so be honest!

After the list of 100 is published, you’ll be able to follow all of them on Twitter with one click, so stay tuned for the final 100!!

Please feel free to scroll through this blog site and get some ideas here and subscribe via email or RSS for new ideas as we’ll be sharing more this week from inspiration during tomorrow’s breakfast!

Top Two

The most popular, well produced haunted houses in central Texas are implementing social media campaigns to attract and scare the crap out of people:

Mansion of Terror’s social media campaign is the brain child of David Neff who plays a role in the horror show as well; my favorite of their many productions and campaigns is the trailer for their new “Death Asylum” (click here to see the video and get all worked up before you head out to go see the Mansion of Terror). What Mansion of Terror has done that is unique is actively reaching out to individual bloggers and tweeps in an effort not only to brand themselves but to increase their traffic rather than blanket promote. Mansion of Terror hosted a Tweet Up that ended in the group going to the Mansion of Terror at a discount which is quite an innovative way to reach out to Austinites.

Connect with Mansion of Terror: Twitter | Facebook | Website

House of Torment is promoted by Wyatt Brand out of Austin and they too can be found on Twitter and Facebook. They have been actively promoting their haunted house creatively, for example, they ran a campaign offering free giveaways to the best scary story told on Twitter or Facebook which received a great response level. House of Torment’s Twitter handle gets people involved by offering factoids and contests rather than simply promoting their cast repetitively.

Connect with House of Torment: Twitter | Facebook | Website

Mansion of Terror- SCARRRRYYYY

Located just north of La Frontera in Round Rock, the Mansion of Terror has been named #1 haunted house in the nation by Lions Gate Films (can you say Saw I-VI? yeah that Lions Gate Films). We went last year and took our daughter as her first haunted house experience and now she is hooked and all other haunted houses don’t scare her.

This year, (SPOILER ALERT) our family of four unanimously decided that the Mansion of Terror’s Death Asylum was the scariest haunted house ever in history. Little B (age 12), Little T (age 18), Benn (NML CEO) and I had the following thoughts:

Little B: “The Mansion of Terror Death Asylum was the scariest because it was so dark and it was easy to get lost.” She declares that this year’s haunted house takeaway memory will be “being chased around the room with writing” (which you’ll have to go see to know what she’s talking about).

Little T: “Mansion of Terror was the scariest because we had a lot of time to walk through it and get scared. The Death Asylum had more realistic characters and the scariest moment was when they came out of the dark and scared us.” He noted that his most memorable moment this season will be “being lost and chased around. Oh, and the shooting blood” (again, you’ll have to visit to see what he means).

Benn declared the Asylum scariest because “it was dark, they had great timing, it was very difficult to navigate and suspense built perfectly. It wasn’t a straight through run, you didn’t know where to go or where to run to, so it was truly terrifying.” His most memorable moment was “walking through the Asylum corridor and body parts hanging from the ceiling felt like real people touching you.”

I declared it the scariest based on what others said because I chickened out and didn’t go in. Don’t you judge me, I went last year and KNEW how terrifying it was!

House of Torment- CREEEPY

Before getting out of the car at House of Torment, my stomach flipped because not only am I scared of haunted houses, the creepy characters really get my heart palpitating. When we pulled up, the kids were delighted because there were cast members out front chasing down those waiting to enter (and we’re not talking low budget Frankensteins, we’re talking chain holding bleeding freak shows). Again, I was too scared to go in, so I made friends with the outdoor staff that were in plain clothes, but here is what the family had to say:

Little B said, “the scariest character was the guy in the pig mask. He was creepy and in your face and the snout on the mask was close to you and there was nowhere to go. They had a sideways room and you had to use one of the rails to pull yourself up, that was really scary. The best costume was the pumpkin head guy.”

Little T said his most memorable moment was the “underwear guy in the House of Torment because he was so creepy and funny but in a really scary way. I wanted him to get away from me.”

Benn noted that the cast of House of Torment was convincingly one big crazy family and that the scariest character of all Austin haunted houses was “the large, sweaty, imposing man in whitey tighties because he was unusual yet realistic and fit what I imagine to be a great horror story because he looked like a real murderer, like he could honestly be crazy person in real life.” Benn also said that the House of Torment was “very artistic, clean and realistic.”

Making plans for the weekend:

If you’re making plans for the weekend, we want you to get into the halloween spirit by visiting these haunted houses- you won’t regret it. Check out their social media efforts and connect with them and get all scared before you head out the door, then when you get home, come tell us about YOUR scariest haunted house moment in Austin!

Easy as pie

So, I’m not sure why pie is easy, but it is and so is this… Hubspot.com has a grader tool to judge your performance on Twitter via an algorithm and although it seems bots have been rewarded and placed at the top of the list, the top people per location changes every day (you can check Austin by clicking here).

Want to follow 50 twitter users in Austin that Hubspot considers to be at the top of the game? Click here to follow all 50 (and yes, the list changes constantly, so this is just a snapshot in time)… seriously, one click and you follow them all through TweepML (which allows you to sign in with OAuth).

There are a LOT of people missing from the list, so tell us in comments who YOU would add!

Get a leg up in your business

Twitter, Blogging, Facebook and LinkedIn are quickly growing and becoming staples in the marketing world. Has your boss told you to start using social media or are you hoping to learn how to implement these tools for your own business? We offer intimate, seminar style teaching in downtown Austin with intro and advanced levels.

Class Schedule:

Wednesday, September 09, 10:00am-12:00pm Linked-In Basics (Level 1) **sold out**
Wednesday, September 09, 3:00pm-5:00pm Blogging Basics (Level 1) **sold out**
Friday, September 11, 10:00am-12:00pm Facebook Basics (Level 1)**sold out**
Friday, September 11, 3:00pm-5:00pm Twitter Basics (Level 1)**sold out**
Wednesday, September 16, 10:00am-12:00pm Linked-In Marketing (Level 2)
Wednesday, September 16, 3:00pm-5:00pm Blog Marketing (Level 2)
Friday, September 18, 10:00am-12:00pm Facebook Marketing (Level 2)
Friday, September18, 3:00pm-5:00pm Twitter Marketing (Level 2)

To learn about each course, click here and register before seating fills up; let our collective years of experience help you avoid the learning curve in social media.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at austinlabs at gmail dot com.

More and more often in this economy businesses are stepping out into the talent pool looking for knowledge and help to gain a competitive edge, and the collaborative environment we know as social media is the perfect breeding ground for just this very activity.

Ask any freelancer what the biggest problem they’re facing in business today is, and they’ll likely tell you that it’s those that begin sentences with “let me buy you lunch.”  Although lunch is important and there is a high likelihood that they’ll be hungry around noon that day, there is an even greater likelihood that they’ll also be hungry the next day, and the week after as well, and your $10 hour of time may have cost them a lunch with an actual paying client.

I’ll make you a STAR

Sure, you as the lunch buyer (brain picker) feel you’re doing the freelancer a favor, you offer exposure, you offer big project with big recognition, but what you’ve completely missed is that you’re sitting in front of the talent- you came to them, you asked them, they were referred to you (yes, I said referred- that’s a hint.)

I’m not saying freelancers don’t love lunch, or desire coffee or a beer, but what I am saying is that if you multiply you (the brain picker) times 100 or so in a month, you begin to see the time suck that brain picking really is on the freelancer, that if every brain picker offered the freelancer a minimum of their hourly rate for their time plus lunch, it might just be the freelancer that can afford to buy you lunch.

Proposals used as game plans

Brain picking is coming in more ways than just lunch or coffee, it also comes by way of the all powerful ‘job proposal’ on the project you discussed over lunch-  where you already know what the freelancer charges but you asked for it anyway, that he/she will ultimately labor over for hours?  Not the simple one, but the very detailed one that actually uses the creativity of the creative to pull together for a cheaper, much less experienced freelancer to actually half-assedly execute- yep, that one little lunch is now looking like 10-15 hours plus the benefit of seeing their strategy, or design laid out for the world to see, all for the price of lunch.

Seriously, this is a wake up call for those that continue to use this practice to obtain creative intellectual property (ideas and concepts) using these tactics to stop stealing and start paying- at least for the consultation.

Budget constraints cut both ways

Ultimately, the brain pick is reaching critical mass due to the recession and budget constraints coupled with the ease of social media to target and connect with influential and talented freelancers- everyone gets it.  But there are a few things you can do as the project manager to make sure your relationship outlives the courting and proposal period:

A few tips on working with freelancers

• Offer to pay a consultation fee as well as buy lunch or coffee
• Be honest about your budget constraints up front
• If your intent isn’t actually to hire them, why spend their money
• Shop, research, and read all you can before offering to meet, know what you’re asking for
• Only compare apples to apples, but be upfront that you’re working on an orange budget
• Be satisfied with a general proposal or offer to pay an hourly rate on detailed proposals
• Better to work with your freelancer on price cutting rather than cutting your freelancer

What’s a Tweetup?

A tweetup is a free happy hour open to anyone and broadcast via Twitter. It’s a very organic event and it started off with a few of us having dinner and has evolved into a full blown scene. About 100 people showed up this Thursday at Iron Cactus in the Arboretum (who took great care of us by the way, you should host YOUR next event there), here’s the RSVP list.

If you want to comment on the pictures, tell your friends how stupid or gorgeous they look, you can do so over on Facebook. If you didn’t know about this event, leave your Twitter handle in the comments and we’ll make sure you know about the next one that’s in the works! Tweetups happen every month folks, we’d love to meet you!

Linux Install Fest

Last weekend, we volunteered at Geek Austin’s Linux Against Poverty Install Fest which donated over 200 computers to children in need. Led by Lynn Bender, the festival was a great success with so many computers being repaired or if new, simply cleaned up and all units were installed with the easy to use Linux operating system so local children in need don’t have to miss the bus to stay behind to do their homework or walk long distances to the local library to do required school work.

This is an ongoing initiative, so if you have a laptop or computer you don’t need or you’d like to donate a new one, contact Linux Against Poverty for details. Kudos to all those who participated, you’re all amazing for your hard work and charitable attitudes!

Cupcake Smackdown 1.0

Once upon a time, there was a cupcake fanatic (and amazing cupcake baker, by the way) named Jennie Chen who saw the need for storefronts and untrained cupcake bakers and fellow cupcake fans to come together and to bring cupcakey goodness to the people of Austin. That’s exactly what happened this last weekend as hundreds more people than it was dreamed would show up filled the entire One2One bar; the crowds poured out onto the street.

Children, dogs, chefs, moms, dads, cousins and cupcakes merged in the heat as Cupcake Smackdown 1.0 judges reviewd hundreds of cupcakes for flavor, aesthetics and originality. The event was a blast and we look forward to the next one (Jennie, this IS going to be annual, right?).

How is this on topic?

The reason we believe the Cupcake Smackdown is applicable here on a site about social media is that several hundred people showed up to the event that was not marketed in any print publication, rather was by word of mouth, namely through social networking sites. We saw many people there that we had invited via our favorite social network, Twitter. People that were at home couldn’t believe that such a massive turnout was had without any print marketing and we are proud to say that social media was one component that made this event such an explosive success (with the main component being Jennie’s giant brain).

More pics on Austin360.com.

Bloggers and wine

Last night, Austin Eavesdropper’s vision of a blogger meetup (Bleet Up) came to fruition at the downstairs wine bar (TRIO) at the Four Seasons in downtown Austin. There were familiar faces and new faces and it was a very nice location with free parking and amazing deserts. It was fun when food came out watching all the foodies whip out cameras before devouring the gourmet treats. The lawn was gorgeous and sits right on top of Lake Austin, we even watched the bats come out! A good time was had by all and we look forward to seeing many of you again soon!

Other pictures and event coverage:
Cory Ryan, professional photographer
Relaxed Politics